White House staff were warned last month not to use insider information to place bets on predictions markets.
The email was sent to staff on 24 March, a day after US President Donald Trump announced a five-day pause on his threat to attack Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure.
It referred to press reports that raised concerns over government officials using non-public information to place bets on platforms like Kalshi or Polymarket.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle told the BBC that “any implication that Administration officials are engaged in such activity without evidence is baseless and irresponsible reporting.”
Ingle also said that all federal employees are subject to government ethics guidelines that prohibit the use of insider information for financial gain.
Gambling regulations in the US are mainly left up to individual States. That could explain the situation, because if a Federal official opens themselves up to a State prosecution then Daddy Trump may not be able to help them.
Conveniently, Washington of the Columbia district is outside of any state’s jurisdiction.
These markets themselves argue adamantly that they are NOT a betting market and therefore aren’t subject to gambling regulations.
They can argue all they want, but the State regulators get to make their argument, too, and I bet courts side with the State.
I got some bad news for you.
The ruling is fucking bullshit, of course. But, yeah…